Immediately after Ben Gurion proclaimed the establishment of the Israeli state, Israel's first leader would write to Stalin:
"Our people will never forget the help that the Soviet Union offered us, nor its loyal support to Israel, in its struggle for independence in its historical cradle..."
History is not an exact science. In the course of time, the knowledge of the past evolves. Stereotyped ideas are difficult to change and acquired reassuring, simplistic certainties prevent the deciphering of facts and their consideration from a different perspective.
…
May 8, 1945. The war is over. Tens of thousands of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust do not know where to go, no one is waiting for them, they have lost everything, and their fate depends on the decisions of the war winners. What is urgent for the Allies is the restoration of the massive destruction across the European continent so that a normal life can begin as soon as possible, not the fate of the Jews.
In the autumn of 1945, 70,000 rescued Jews from Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, are in displacement camps, refusing to go to their homes where the climate of anti-Semitism is constantly intense. They want to find asylum in other countries but no one accepts them.
Even in Palestine, their historical cradle, this too is not possible because of English policy. The British strongly oppose such a prospect; since 1939 they have proposed the pro-Arab "White Paper" which limits, among other things, the number of Jewish emigrants who could settle in Palestine to only 1250 people per month. The British have been in command of the region since the end of World War I and want to get along very well with the Arab monarchies around Palestine. Their oil interests are huge. The Balfour Declaration that the British themselves had proposed since 1917 and which envisioned an independent Jewish state has been buried. Their interests now dictate other policies. In the 1920s and 1930s, hundreds of thousands of Jewish emigrants had arrived in Palestine, causing the reaction of the Arabs, uprisings, conflicts and a lot of blood. (In article of the previous week this period is thoroughly reported)
For the Arabs the Holocaust was not a reason for the creation of an independent Jewish state in Palestine.
For the Jews of Palestine, who number about 500,000 and are mostly Zionists, that is, they want the establishment of an independent state in Palestine, the survivors of the concentration camps of Europe are a unique hope and reservoir, an opportunity to increase their population. Arabs are almost three times more numerous in the Palestinian territories and this demographic difference is the major problem in the prospect of creating a Jewish state. The annihilation of 6,000,000 Jews in the Holocaust deprived them of the natural pool of manpower for their state.
As long as the British oppose the arrival of new European Jewish immigrants there will be no prospect of a state.
One man refuses this fate; David Ben-Gurion. Throughout his life he has one goal. The creation of the Israeli state.
On October 16, 1945, during a visit to Germany, he declared to the Jewish community that he was determined to overcome the obstacles of British politics. Thus the displacement camps, where the tens of thousands of Jews are waiting to find countries that will offer them asylum, are transformed into recruitment centers for future emigrants to Palestine.
Ben Gurion and the Jewish community organize classes in the camps in Hebrew language, Jewish culture, history, geography, rural development for adults, learning trades and skills that will be needed in the new state. In a short time the Jews of the camps are ready and candidates for their resettlement in Palestine.
At the same time, Ben-Gurion will begin a struggle on the international political stage to overcome the problem of British policy and to be able to obtain a permit for the movement of Jews to Palestine; he demands 100,000 permits immediately.
In this effort, he has the undivided support of the European Jewish Community and especially the American one, which numbers 5 million Jews. US Secretary of State George Marshall is of the view that support for the Zionists could jeopardize US interests in Middle Eastern oil; moreover, the spread of communist states in Europe after the war and the danger it represents to the West , leaves him no room for disrupting the US relationship with the British.
US President Harry Truman has a different view. Deeply religious, he displays a sincere compassion for the plight of the Jews and despite the contrary opinions of his advisers gives his consent to 100,000 settlement permits for surviving Jews in Palestine.
Annoyed, the English react immediately.
No discussion of accepting the American decision. The once mighty empire is war-torn, its coffers empty and surviving on American aid. Despite its weakness and its complete economic dependence on the USA, the English foreign secretary Ernest Bevin has no desire to change British policy and boldly declares to Truman: "The 100,000 emigrants, if you want to give them the permits, yes, but take them to America, not to Palestine."
No more Jews in Palestine.
The US-British dispute does not go unnoticed by the Soviet diplomat Nikolai Inovkov, who immediately informs Stalin. This disagreement between the US and Britain may create a rift in their relations. Stalin is what he seeks and wishes for. The split of the anti-communist camp is a hopeless golden opportunity for the further spread of communism.
Moreover, a destabilization of Britain will open the doors to the Middle East he so desires. The Soviet Union has always been out of the game in the Middle East, whose oil interests the whole world.
Overnight, the Soviet leader radically changes his policy. The anti-Zionist policy of the Soviet Union was a given from its foundation. Stalin becomes pro-Zionist overnight because he has a lot to gain.
He opens the borders of newly formed communist countries only to Jews. Within a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia crossed to the West to meet in the displacement camps the already 70,000 who had remained since the fall of 1945 to find asylum. They will find protection in the allied powers of the West to avoid the intense anti-Semitic climate prevailing in the communist countries, a hopeless development for their fortunes. The Allied forces are in Germany trying to manage the 250,000 Jews who are now concentrated in the displacement camps and the Zionists see a golden opportunity given by Stalin to use this great manpower in Palestine and thus immediately change the correlation of Arab-Jewish population. Ben Gurion organizes secret shipping networks that take Jews from Germany to small Mediterranean and Balkan ports bound for Palestine.
Tens of thousands arrive by ship in the ports of Palestine, where the English soldiers await them with hostile attitudes.
In an irony of history, the same surviving Jews who had been freed by the British in the Nazi concentration camps at the end of the war are confronted by the same British soldiers who push them away and block their access. And not only that. They take them all to a makeshift camp they make up by the port of Haifa.
Ernst Bevin declares from London that he will not yield to the pressure and blackmail of the Jews and threatens them.
It is the spark that will light the fire. The Jews of Palestine rise up against the British and a full-scale war begins with destruction, sabotage, hand-to-hand combat, arson and attacks on British targets throughout the summer of 1946.
On July 22, Jewish commandos blow up the headquarters of the British delegation in Jerusalem, in the hotel King David. 91 dead Englishmen and 40 wounded are recovered from the wreckage. The situation is out of control. The British reprisals are not long in coming and they are harsh. 3000 Zionists are imprisoned and their hard core is exterminated.
However, the waves of Jews from Europe do not stop arriving at the port of Haifa, just as the expansion of English politics does not stop at the same time.
For Holocaust survivors the hope for the promised land ends ingloriously after a few steps on the quay of the port of Haifa. British soldiers arrest them and immediately put them on cell ships to transport them to Cyprus where a huge prison camp has been created especially for this purpose.
They were rescued from the Nazi camps and are in British camps in Cyprus surrounded by guards and barbed wire.
In the face of this complete impasse Ben Gurion plays his last card.
He changes his position, which previously spoke of a Jewish state in the greater part of the Palestinian territories, and proposes to create a state but only in a small part. This change does not go unnoticed by the international political scene. The Arabs react and immediately reject the idea, but President Truman for the first time on October 4, 1946 officially announces that the US would favor the creation of an Israeli state in a part of Palestine.
For England this is considered the final blow.
With the USA opposed, the Palestinians also opposed and the Jews being at war against them in the region, also having English public opinion opposed to government policy since two years after the war ended 100,000 British soldiers are still fighting in Palestine, with exorbitant costs which the Empire can no longer afford, Foreign Secretary Bevin finally relents and on 17 February 1947 in the House of Commons in London he declares that he will raise the matter with the newly formed UN.
In Moscow, Stalin celebrates. The US-UK front is broken; its strategy is vindicated and the way to play a role in the Middle East opens wide. Two months later at the UN, around 50 state delegations are discussing the issue. Everything is open. The Zionists have managed to win the support of many Western states, but they do not have a majority. Mufti of Jerusalem Jamal Husseini from his position as head of the Supreme Arab Commission is hopelessly alone.
The great unknown is the position of the Soviet Union which since its foundation had a consistently anti-Zionist policy (all Soviet Zionists were either killed or deported to the Gulag).
Stalin has no problem with the contradictions of his policy.
At this point it should be noted that Anti-Zionism is one thing and Anti-Semitism is another. Anti-Zionism is a political position. It's not racism. An anti-Zionist is one who is opposed to the policy of the Israeli state, (the pre-establishment opposition to such a perspective) as one might be anti-American or anti-French. Anti-Semitism is racism; against Jews simply because they are Jews.
The Soviet representative Andrei Gromyko will declare from the UN platform regarding the establishment of a Jewish state:
"It would be unjustifiable to deny this right to the Jewish people especially after all that they suffered in World War II."
It is the big surprise at the UN meeting.
The Soviet Union says yes to the establishment of an Israeli state.
Israel's representative Abi Eban is stunned.
This unexpectedly favorable turn of events paves the way for the realization of the Jewish dream. The Arab world is sullen. Of course, all is not completely lost.
The UN seeing the huge contradictions and bigotry between Jews and Arabs before making the final decision will try to reach a compromise. He will set up an investigative committee led by Swedish diplomat Emil Sandreng, which will travel to Palestine for two months to see the situation firsthand, talk to both sides and draw up a final report-proposal to the UN. In the summer of 1947 the committee arrived in Palestine. The Arabs refuse to cooperate with her. They are adamant; Palestine is their land and the prospect of an Israeli state is unthinkable to them. On the other hand, the Jewish population gives them an enthusiastic welcome and Ben-Gurion exposes them to all the achievements of the Jewish society in an atmosphere of celebration with dances and songs. Their industry, rural development, their education system. The committee will not fail to notice the strong presence of British troops. Barbed wire, checkpoints, checkpoints, military vehicles; a literal police state.
The Jewish community taking advantage of the presence of the UN commission will direct an event that will play a decisive role in the further course.
On July 12, 1947, an old ship appears off the coast of Gaza, the name of the "Exodus". (The legendary film of the same name with one of the most beautiful soundtracks in the history of film music is about this event). 4,500 Jews, all survivors of the German concentration camps, are on board the "Exodus". Ben-Gurion wants to instrumentalize and take advantage of their repression by the British on arrival, who, on spotting the ship outside the harbor, intervene to prevent it from anchoring; incidents of dead and wounded ensue, and when the ship finally anchors with the help of tugs, the English immediately after disembarking the passengers forcefully put them on board ship-ships and immediately send them back to Germany. All this before the astonished eyes of the UN commission, which has been notified and is present at the port at the time of the ship's arrival, monitoring the events. The images shock the committee and the entire Western world. Ben-Gurion's directorial trick pays off.
Upon its return to the UN, the committee announces its proposal:
1: To immediately end the British mandate to govern Palestine.
2: To create two independent states, one Palestinian and one Jewish.
3: The Jerusalem zone will be international.
On news of the proposal Syria, Egypt and Jordan are threatening immediate war if the proposal is passed. At the news of the commission's decision the rest of the Arab states rise up; the Arabs of all countries demonstrate in the streets and threaten war.
Stalin takes satisfaction in these developments; the uprising of the Arabs against the West is an unlikely stroke of luck that serves his plans.
George Marshall worries about the closeness of Stalin-Zionist relations. The pressures of the international Jewish community are intensifying in all directions and especially towards the Americans before the final vote.
On October 11, 1947, the US officially declares that it will vote for the creation of two independent states at the UN. The Soviet Union declared the same a little later, as did all its satellite countries in the Eastern bloc.
On November 29, 1947, the UN meets and decides the establishment of two independent states; 33 votes in favor, 13 against and 10 abstentions.
The Jews are celebrating.
The Arabs are rising.
Incidents break out the same day in Jerusalem against Jewish shops and homes being set on fire; 7 Jews are killed and many more injured.
The army of the Arab states moves to the borders of Palestine with tanks and planes ready to invade once the British leave. Ben-Gurion, despite his satisfaction with the UN decision, feels that the Israeli state is threatened with annihilation before it is even established.
A new road race begins. To find weapons as soon as possible; the Jews have but few rifles.
Stalin will again generously offer him the solution.
Eud Avriel, the best Mossad agent, immediately flies to Czechoslovakia where he is warmly welcomed. With Stalin's permission, the Czechoslovaks offer him a huge stockpile of weapons, thousands of Mauser rifles – ironically, most of them belonged to Nazi soldiers – as well as the entire stockpile of Skoda's military industry.
A huge arsenal ready to use.
Only one last big problem remains. Where will the money be found? A close associate of Ben Gurion, Golda Mehr is in charge of the case. The only potential donors could only come from the US Jewish community. He travels to the United States and for two months visits all the states to collect the necessary resources. Events, galas, lotteries, celebrations, gatherings, this massive effort brings in 50,000,000$, more than double the amount needed to buy the Czechoslovak arsenal.
The money is immediately transferred to Skoda's coffers. The weapons are transported from Czechoslovakia via Hungary to the Yugoslav port of Sibenik. The three people's republics obey Stalin's orders without objection. On April 3, the first shipment of weapons arrives in Palestine hidden under onions, and by the end of the month the Jews will have their entire arsenal.
On May 14, 1948, the British withdraw. Their mandate has expired.
That same day at four in the afternoon David Ben Gurion proclaims the establishment of the state of Israel.
The next day, at dawn, the Arab countries bombard the new state of Israel with tanks and planes.
Thanks to its arsenal, it will win the war and increase its borders in relation to those set by the UN decision.
700,000 Palestinians will be driven from their homes and resettled in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. They will never come back. Although the issue of their return was raised at the UN, for one more time Israel found Stalin as an ally who took a negative position on the return of the Palestinians and vetoed it.
But the Stalin-Israeli honeymoon will not last long.
The enthusiasm of the Jews of the Soviet Union for the newly formed state of Israel would begin to worry Stalin who would see it as a threat capable of turning them away from the communist ideal. All Russian Jewish associations will be dissolved in early 1949, and no Soviet Jew will be allowed to move to the new homeland; this will only happen after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
*Cover photo: The Israeli flag flies over the crowded deck of the Exodus ©Hans Pinn/GPO / Getty Images / Ideal Image